Last summer, 16-year-old magician Matthew Laslo, shown above, made his network television debut on “Penn and Teller: Fool Us.”

His episode, filmed on a Las Vegas stage in front of thousands, received more than five million views. After it aired, TV offers began rolling in, but Laslo turned them down to work on his biggest, most ambitious illusions yet.

“You must create your own illusions to be successful in this business,” he said.

For the past eight months, Laslo has been creating new pieces in his workshop, and working with two prominent props masters in Las Vegas to help finalize the concepts. He will debut the new line-up at his upcoming community shows in the San Juans.

Laslo will perform “Magic Now” on Friday, July 7 at the Lopez Center at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available at http://www.lopezcenter.org/”www.lopezcenter.org.

“What we realized after ‘Fool Us’ is that I want to do a really great live show,” said Laslo. “So I’ve taken a different approach: if I could do anything I wanted to do, what would it be? This is a different kind of magic that I am really excited for.”

Laslo has been performing since he was a young boy and is well known in the San Juans for his sold out productions.

“We make the shows a family friendly $10 because it’s not about making money, it’s about having the chance to perform,” said Laslo. “It’s so fun that entire families come out for the show.”